Site Search Navigation

Site Navigation

Site Mobile Navigation

China’s Bizarre Food ‘Safety’ Scene, and Our Own

By Mark Bittman July 6, 2011 3:25 pmJuly 6, 2011 3:25 pm

Pork that glows blue because of the presence of bacteria was purchased in a Shanghai market in April.

Almost all of the attention we’ve paid to food safety in recent weeks has been fixed on the deadly E. coli outbreak in Germany. And justifiably so. But if you happen to have taken a peek at China in the last few months you would have seen an eye-popping string of food safety oddities culminating in the state-sponsored suppression of journalists.

As I mentioned in my column today there was the famous village wedding at which more than half of the 500 guests were hospitalized after eating pork contaminated with Clenbuterol, a drug that accelerates fat burning and muscle growth. (It makes pigs grow faster and leaner, and when consumed in excess by humans can cause nausea, convulsions, dizziness, vomiting and heart palpitations.) Clenbuterol was banned from pig feed in the 1990s, but is still used under the name “lean pork powder.”

In the wake of China’s worst recent food-safety-related disaster, in which melamine-tainted milk sickened 300,000 babies and killed six in 2008, the government has been actively trying to crack down on all manners of “tainted food,” but it’s clear from recent events that the state has its hands full. On June 13th, China’s health ministry said that it was trying to clamp down on media outlets “deliberately misleading” the public about food safety issues, the idea being to blacklist the irresponsible journalists who are risking harm to the development of China’s food industry. A recent Los Angeles Times article quoted Phelim Kine, a researcher for Human Rights Watch: “In China, the reflexive desire to cover up and hide has trumped transparency and the need to protect public health.”

Reports like these are unpleasant at best, and downright nauseating at worst. I want to watch a piglet get tortured about as little as the next guy, but if we’re never (or seldom) allowed to see how screwed up our food “system” is, how will we ever know to make a fuss to fix it? Same goes for China, but let’s clean house here first.

About

Mark Bittman writes (mostly) about food for the Times Opinion pages, and is The Magazine’s lead food columnist. He is the author of “VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00” and “How To Cook Everything”. His Web site is markbittman.com.